You start in a cabin on a sailing ship. Use the key from your inventory to open the padlock on the cabinet and pick up the glowstick and the batteries. Pick up the notebook from the table. There's a flashlight in the drawer. In the chest there's a letter. Go outside.
While you're walking in the blizzard pick up a stone and go forward until you find a frozen hatch. Drop the stone onto it, turn the handle and go inside. This is the first time you hear strange voices. Pick up a steel rod that lies next to the door on the left. There's a flare in the box nearby. The other door is closed. There's another flare behind the barrels to the right. Go through the open door and pick up the hammer and a flare on your left. Knock over the wardrobe and use the hammer to bust through the wooden planks. Go through the tunnel and take the first left route up. Walk into the room with a hatch on the floor. Insert the steel rod into the box with a hole in it and turn it to open the hatch. Go through it...
Walk forward until you see the map. I suggest you print it to have it at hand. Find the Storage on the map and go to it. Pick up the empty lighter from the wardrobe on the left. The center door and the door on the right are closed, so go through the door on the left. You enter a room with a box full of stones. Enter the room on the right and pick up painkillers and the batteries from the wardrobe. There is also the first artifact, which you can use to save the game. Go back to the room with the box, take out all stones and move the box to uncover a trapdoor. Go down. You hear the creepy voices again. Crouch to get into the tunnel and take the first right. You see a mummified creature lying on the floor. Take the next right and pick up the note and a flare. Go back and take the first right. Watch out for the steam. Go left and pick up another note. Go back and then to the left. Keep walking until you approach a fence. Use the hammer to destroy the padlock. Pick up the fluid lighter gas and use it on the lighter in your inventory. There are batteries in the chest. Go back all the way to the place where you first turned right and turn right to pick up the ladder. Drag it to the place where you jumped down.
You hear some VERY disturbing noises now. Attach the ladder to the hooks and go up. Go to the room with three doors. Two of them, which were previously locked, are now open. There are traces of blood on the floor. Go through the door on the right and pick up the key and a note from the desk. In the small room on the right you will find a piece of meat and a dead spider on a desk. Go back and walk through the third door. There are two pieces of beef jerky in the drawer. Go back and get out of the Storage. You hear a dog coming, hide quickly and don't move! You can kill the dog later with the hammer. I suggest getting on a crate and hitting him when he jumps on you. Don't worry, he won't reach you. Find the Workshop on the map and use the key you found on the door and go in. Barricade the door! Use barrels and stones, but the dog will eventually bust through, so kill him. There's an arrow which says Explosives, go there. Take the TNT barrel, go back and take a left, then take another left and you'll see a barricaded tunnel. Take the note and drop the TNT barrel into the hole.
Find the Office on the map and go there. There's beef jerky in the desk drawer on the right. From the desk with the artifact take the book and a bottle of Baxtrin, then open the drawer to find a key and a note. There are batteries in the cabinet. Use the key on the chest and take the book. There's beef jerky in the cabinet on the right and a flare on the left.
Find the Workshop on the map and go there. The keycode is 8412 (it says so in the note you took). Go inside. There's an artifact and a flare on the right wardrobe. On the left there's a box with a string. Pick it up. Go forward and move the stones to pick up the axe. Go back and take the door on your left. Open the fence and use a hammer or the axe to smash the wooden planks on the left. Walk forward. There's a flare under the barrels. Pick up the box and go through a busted fence. There's an electric obstacle, so you'll have to stack two boxes on each other and jump to the other side. Smash the door with your axe. There's a dynamite in the box, and painkillers on the right. Smash the barrel with your axe. Combine the string and the bottle of Baxtrin in the inventory. Use the soaked string on the gun powder from the barrel. Go back to the place where you left the TNT...
Use the string (now it's a fuse) on the barrel, then use the lighter on the fuse and stay back!
Walk forward and take the first left to the Power room. There are two batteries, a note and an artifact on the cabinet on the right. Use the axe to smash the wooden planks guarding the big hole and push the box into the hole. Go down the ladder and pick up the battery that fell out of the box. Go back up. See those five valves? Next to the closest one is a sign Batteries. Use the battery there. Get out of the Power room. Go left, then right and on the left you see a barrier, a closed fence and a keypad. Thereâ€™s a dog on the other side. Go forward and turn right. Walk through the door. In the room stack two boxes on each other in front of the cabinet with three boxes on it. Get on the boxes and pick up a white fuse from the top shelf. From the other cabinet pick up beef jerky, flare and a note. Thereâ€™s also a broom you can take. Get out of the room and go right. There are doors leading to the communication room. Pick up the radio from one table and a note from the other. You hear beeping sounds. Itâ€™s actually Morse Code for 5738. Go back to the Power room. Letâ€™s number the valves: the one next to the battery is number 1 and the next oneâ€™s are accordingly numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5. Turn the valves in the following order: 2, 3, 5, 4, 1. Go to the generator and pull the lever. A fuse will be destroyed. Go back to the valves and replace the fuse under valves 2 and 3. Pull the lever againâ€¦
Leave the Power room and go to the fence. This is the first time you hear a man talking from the radio. Use the keypad and enter the code 5738. Kill the dog. Take a look on the map and walk through the door on the right. Turn left and kill the dog. There is a fence blocked with a wooden plank on the right. Find the Tool shed on the map and go there. From the cabinets pick up the saw, flare, batteries and a note.
Find the Excavation on the map and go there. Watch out for another dog. Walk through the tunnel. Thereâ€™s an artifact and a note on the table on the far left. You see a tunnel on the ceiling if you look up standing next to the knocked lamp. Take the bigger part of the broken ladder, then jump and attach it to the hooks under the tunnel. You must now jump and grab the ladder. Use a box to your advantage. You walk into the tunnelâ€¦
Now you must be very quick. If you take the first left you see a couple of eggs, from which deadly spiders will come out. Donâ€™t go there, run forward to the place with blood on the floor and go left. Crawl through and immediately use your lighter on the oil on the floor. Then move the rock from one hole to another to block the rest of the spiders. Go through the tunnel and grab a rock. Throw it into the green slime. Now thereâ€™s a part where you must run like wind. If you go down a big rock will start rolling after you, so just run! At the bottom turn left, take out your axe and start smashing the wall, cause the spiders are after you. Run, smash and donâ€™t stop! Finally you fall down a tunnel and land in the Storage, which was closed from the inside.
Behind you is a locker with painkillers. Door to the left is closed, take the door to your right. You pass a ventilation shaft on the left, which you can smash, but weâ€™ll get back to that later. You enter a room with four cabinets. There are two flares on the left. Get out the way you came from and go right. You pass another ventilation shaft. Go forward and you enter another room with cabinets. You find a flare, batteries and beef jerky on one cabinet. On the right thereâ€™s a green box hanging on the wall, in which thereâ€™s a key you must take (approach the box from the right and move the cover to the left). Go back and smash the first ventilation shaft you see (on the right). Crouch and move forward. Smash another shaft in front of you. You enter a room with a box hanging from a machine. Go to the control room on the right. Thereâ€™s an artifact, so you can save your game. Thereâ€™s a book in one of the lockers. Now use the controls to move the box to the far left side of the room, so that when you jump on another box you will reach the ventilation shaft under the ceiling. After you reach and smash the shaft move forward and donâ€™t fall down after you turn left. Keep crawling until you see another shaft. Smash it and fall in the room. Pick up the gasoline canister. Watch out for the steam. Now you must get out of the Storage.
Remember the fence blocked with a wooden plank? Itâ€™s near the place where you first walked into this part of the mine. Anyway, use the saw on the plank and cut it. Walk through the door. Go left and kill the dog. Head to the Auxiliary shaft. Before you take the last left thereâ€™s a table and a note on it in front of you. Go into the Auxiliary shaft. Save the game using the artifact on the far left. Grab each ends of the power cable and stick it to both sockets (the power cabinet and the table). Insert the key you found in the Storage into the hole on the table next to the joystick. In the inventory use the hammer on the gasoline canister to open it and then use the canister on the big digging machine. Use the key to start the machine and push the joystick up. The machine will dig through the wall and uncover a door on the right. You enter a new part of the mineâ€¦
Use the wooden planks to get to the other side without falling down. Turn right and approach the door. Now hereâ€™s the scary part: you hear some noises and after a few seconds the door will be smashed by a HUGE worm. Run back and step on the planks. The worm will fall down. Walk into the room the worm just came out. The door on the left is closed. Go right through the tunnel. Take the first left and kill two spiders. I hope you have at least one dynamite to destroy all eggs and spiders on the left. Go forward and turn left, thereâ€™s a room. Pull the lever in front of you and run back to the room where the worm came from. The closed door is now open. You enter a new part of the mine againâ€¦
Go forward and take the first left. Thereâ€™s a map on the wall. Go to Shaft 13 and kill the dog on your way. On the bridge turn right into the tunnel. It collapses after you walk in. Go forward and always stick to the left side. There is a lot of spiders and spider eggs, but you donâ€™t have to kill them all. Eventually you walk into a room with some lockers. Roll the big rock on the left to block the way you came from (spiders wonâ€™t go in). Thereâ€™s a note on the bench. Pick up all things from the lockers. In one locker on the right thereâ€™s a helmet under which thereâ€™s a blank note you must take. Get out of Shaft 13.
Look at the map and go to the Tool storage. From there pick up a screwdriver and wire cutters. Opposite the Tool storage is Section C, but you donâ€™t have the code yet.
Look at the map again and go to the Refinery. Kill the dog while youâ€™re at it. In the Refinery go up the stairs on the left. Push the buttons until all three crushers are up. Crawl under them. Pick up some things from the little room on the right. Grab one rock and put it on the rubber tape under the crushers. Go after it. Now put the rock on the other tape and go back to the other side. If youâ€™re quick enough, youâ€™ll see how the rock drops down the ladder. Go up the ladder and push the button to the left. A tape at the bottom to the left of the crushers will be uncovered. Go to the little room under the ladder and pick up the red object from the cabinet on the left. Itâ€™s a motor. Drop it onto the uncovered tape. Go up the ladder and use the rock to block the fan so that it will eventually explode. Go through the shaft. Put the motor that arrived on the tape into the space opposite the sign. Use the button and get on the tape. Now you must get to the other side of the room without being killed by the steam. Each time the steam shows it appears at different squares. You can count them and find a safe route to the other side. After you successfully get to the other side, move the barrels to uncover the shaft, because the door upstairs is closed. Smash the shaft and crawl inside. Take the first right and go a little way up. Use another shaft to get out. You are now in Shaft 12 that was previously closed. Move the cart blocking the door, but donâ€™t go outside. Turn around and go down. Jump onto another cart and use the wire cutters to cut the wires blocking the cart. Push the cart down. The cart smashes a wall. Go inside. You enter a room that looks like a classroom. There is an artifact on a desk. In one of the shelves of the desk thereâ€™s a newspaper you must take. Go to the closed door on the right and use the newspaper to slide it under the door. Next use the screwdriver to push the key from the door. It will land on the paper, so pull it and gather the key. Walk inside the room. On the left thereâ€™s a switch. Use it to turn on an UV lamp. Now use the blank note you picked up earlier to reveal the code (1371). Go back to Section C and use the codeâ€¦
Thereâ€™s a map on the wall on the left. Go to the Chemical storage. Kill the dog on your way. Use the left door of the storage from the map, because the other oneâ€™s closed. Walk inside. Go forward and youâ€™ll see that something is smashing the door which you came from. Itâ€™s that huge worm again. You must be very quick now: run through the first door and use the button on the left. Run right and jump through the green slime. Push another button on the right. Smash the wooden planks with your axe. Put two boxes in the green slime and jump to another side. Smash the wooden column with your axe. Youâ€™re safe now. Turn the valve to open the door and walk inside. Save the game using the artifact. In this room you must find six glasses containing some chemical stuff. Youâ€™ll also find flares and beef jerky. Use the door to get out of this room.
Find Lake Utuqao on the map and go there. Go through the tunnel until you see two barrels, a backpack and a note. There are painkillers in the backpack. Save the game using the artifact. You must now get to the far other end of the frozen lake. Be careful, because the ice will break if you walk too long on it. Walk slow and stop when the ice starts to break. After you manage to get to the other side you see a frozen hand carrying a crowbar. Use your saw on the hand and pick up the crowbar. Go back through the lake and to the exit.
The last stop is the Incinerator. Find it on the map and go there. Use the crowbar on the door and go inside. Turn left and use the wooden planks to go forward and of course donâ€™t fall down. At the end open the door and go inside. There are painkillers on the right. Pick up a fuse from the deskâ€™s drawer. Pick up the glass from another desk and use it on the little three legged handle on the desk. Turn the valve on the gas tank. Use the lighter to light the gas. From the inventory use the glass with the chemical marked D on the glass on the desk. Then use the chemical marked F. Youâ€™ve just created an explosive. Pick it up and go all the way back through the wooden planks. Remember that youâ€™re carrying explosive, so donâ€™t throw it anywhere. After walking down the planks go left and put the explosive on the rocks. Use the fuse on it, light it and stay back! Go downâ€¦
The doors on the left and center are closed, so go right. Open the next door andâ€¦ you found Red. Heâ€™s locked in the Incinerator. He will ask you to kill him by pushing the button on the right and setting fire in the Incinerator. There is no other way, you must push the button. After Red burns, look down and get the key. Go back and open the door on the left. This is his room. Look around. Use the artifact to save the game. Use the door on the right and walk inside another room. On the far right move the wardrobe to reveal a power box. Use the screwdriver to open it. Cut the wires with the wire cutter, go back and use the crowbar on the center doorâ€¦
Pick up the note and go down. Open the door, and turn right. Youâ€™re in a long tunnel. You see somebody far away. The rest I leave to youâ€¦

I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I will but I have noticed two things, which bother me.

You write thru - this makes the walkthrough look cheap. Write through instead.

You also write with some additions like "you start in a cabin" (Yea, ok, we know. No need to include that info). Also some batteries? Write like you know how many things there are! Write pick up THE batteries. It makes the walkthrough seem more proffesional.

Professional, not proffessonal. And I see nothing wrong with saying that you first start off in a cabin, either. It serves as your basic intro, if you would.

As for me, I will not read the entire walkthrough until I actually play the game. I did that for the Penumbra Tech Demo, and I was much less spooked than I wanted to be, being that I knew what was coming around the next corner...although, yes, I think that use of the word "through" would be more professional.

Great, I was thinking about starting one myself, now that I finished the first Episode, and you saved me a lot of time since now I can just help with yours

My first suggestion would be to subdivide the plot a bit more, maybe by makeshift puzzle titles (like "Breaking the ice" for the entry hatch). This way players can easily check their progress by looking at the puzzle titles, without having to read everything. Penumbra's storyline is linear enough to allow this kind of sub-chapters.

I also noticed that the ingame maps are openly accessible as textures within the game folders.

If you don't mind, we could share the work somehow.
You just write everything down the way it comes to your mind, and I'll manage the fine-tuning stuff, like subdivisions, minor errors, or misinterpretable instructions, and try to create a kind of layout with the relevant maps next to the describing text.
I'll have to work out the best way to do this first, though, maybe putting the maps along with the text isn't such a great idea after all.
It's 5 am for me right now, and I should go to bed, but I'll try reformatting the first part of the walkthrough tomorrow, if you're ok with that.

[important edit]
I finished converting all of pikacz's walkthrough into a kind of layouted HTML file, along with the ingame maps.

The files now attached to this post contain the following:
zip file:
All ingame maps as jpg files (just copies of the files I found in the game directories) and as gif files (optimized for printing. These are the maps used in the:
htm file:
The actual walkthrough. This file is now no longer contained in the zip file, so you have to download both files. The gif files from the zip archive should be placed in the same directory as the htm file, or you won't see the maps when reading the walkthrough.

If you find anything that's wrong in that version of the walkthrough, please tell me. Especially linguistic mistakes, as English is a foreign language to me.

Thaliur Wrote:You just write everything down the way it comes to your mind, and I'll manage the fine-tuning stuff, like subdivisions, minor errors, or misinterpretable instructions, and try to create a kind of layout with the relevant maps next to the describing text.

you mean that i should write only like this:
go THERE and pick up THAT
use THAT on THAT
etc.
?

Walk forward and take the first left to the Power room. There are two batteries, a note and an artifact on the cabinet on the right. Use the axe to smash the wooden planks guarding the big hole and push the box into the hole. Go down the ladder and pick up the battery that fell out of the box. Go back up. See those five valves? Next to the closest one is a sign Batteries. Use the battery there. Get out of the Power room. Go left, then right and on the left you see a barrier, a closed fence and a keypad. Thereâ€™s a dog on the other side. Go forward and turn right. Walk through the door. In the room stack two boxes on each other in front of the cabinet with three boxes on it. Get on the boxes and pick up a white fuse from the top shelf. From the other cabinet pick up beef jerky, flare and a note. Thereâ€™s also a broom you can take. Get out of the room and go right. There are doors leading to the communication room. Pick up the radio from one table and a note from the other. You hear beeping sounds. Itâ€™s actually Morse Code for 5738. Go back to the Power room. Letâ€™s number the valves: the one next to the battery is number 1 and the next oneâ€™s are accordingly numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5. Turn the valves in the following order: 2, 3, 5, 4, 1. Go to the generator and pull the lever. A fuse will be destroyed. Go back to the valves and replace the fuse under valves 2 and 3. Pull the lever againâ€¦
Leave the Power room and go to the fence. This is the first time you hear a man talking from the radio. Use the keypad and enter the code 5738. Kill the dog. Take a look on the map and walk through the door on the right. Turn left and kill the dog. There is a fence blocked with a wooden plank on the right. Find the Tool shed on the map and go there. From the cabinets pick up the saw, flare, batteries and a note.
Find the Excavation on the map and go there. Watch out for another dog. Walk through the tunnel. Thereâ€™s an artifact and a note on the table on the far left. You see a tunnel on the ceiling if you look up standing next to the knocked lamp. Take the bigger part of the broken ladder, then jump and attach it to the hooks under the tunnel. You must now jump and grab the ladder. Use a box to your advantage. You walk into the tunnelâ€¦
Now you must be very quick. If you take the first left you see a couple of eggs, from which deadly spiders will come out. Donâ€™t go there, run forward to the place with blood on the floor and go left. Crawl through and immediately use your lighter on the oil on the floor. Then move the rock from one hole to another to block the rest of the spiders. Go through the tunnel and grab a rock. Throw it into the green slime. Now thereâ€™s a part where you must run like wind. If you go down a big rock will start rolling after you, so just run! At the bottom turn left, take out your axe and start smashing the wall, cause the spiders are after you. Run, smash and donâ€™t stop! Finally you fall down a tunnel and land in the Storage, which was closed from the inside.

pikacz Wrote:you mean that i should write only like this:
go THERE and pick up THAT
use THAT on THAT
etc.
?

Kind of like that, yes. You just go on with the walkthrough the way you are writing it now, and I'll take your text and fashion it into chapters and subdivisions.

To give you an impression of how I meant to do this, here is a part of your first post, converted (the rest will follow soon):

Spoiler below!

Prologue: Descent into Darkness

Part 1: The journey

The game starts out aboard a fishing boat.
Use the key from your inventory to open the padlock on the cabinet and pick up the glowstick and the batteries.
Pick up the notebook from the table. Your flashlight is in the drawer next to the bed. In the chest near the bed you'll find a letter. After you picked up everything, you will hear a horn blowing, and you will get a message telling you to leave the cabin. Now you can walk through the door.

Part 2: Breaking the ice

While you're walking through the blizzard, pick up a stone and carry it with you until you find a frozen hatch. Drop the stone onto it or throw it at the ice shell, turn the handle and go inside.

Part 3: Going in

This is the first time you hear strange voices. Pick up a steel rod that lies next to the door on the left. There's a flare in the box nearby. The other door is closed. There's another flare behind the barrels to the right. Go through the open door and pick up the hammer and a flare on your left. Knock over the wardrobe and use the hammer to bust through the wooden planks. Go through the tunnel and take the first left route up. Walk into the room with a hatch on the floor. Insert the steel rod into the box with a hole in it and turn it to open the hatch. Go through it...

Chapter 1: The fears of mine...

Part 1: Spiders in the dark

Walk forward until you see a map. Memorizing or printing it might be a good idea. Find the Storage area on the map and go there. After you entered the area, pick up the empty lighter from the wardrobe on the left. The center door and the door on the right are closed, so go through the door on the left. You enter a room with a box full of stones. Enter the room on the right and pick up painkillers and the batteries from the wardrobe. There is also the first artifact, which you can use to save the game. Go back to the room with the box, take out all stones and move the box to uncover a trapdoor. Go down. You hear the creepy voices again. Crouch to get into the tunnel and take the first right. You see a mummified creature lying on the floor. Take the next right and pick up the note and a flare. Go back and take the first right. Watch out for the steam. Go left and pick up another note. Go back and then to the left. Keep walking until you approach a fence. Use the hammer to destroy the padlock. Pick up the fluid lighter gas and use it on the lighter in your inventory. There are batteries in the chest. Go back all the way to the place where you first turned right and turn right to pick up the ladder. Drag it to the place where you jumped down.
You hear some VERY disturbing noises now. Attach the ladder to the hooks and go up. Go back to the main storage room. Two of the doors, that were previously locked, are now open. There are traces of blood on the floor. Go through the middle door and pick up the key and a note from the desk. In the small room directly accessible from this one you will find a piece of meat and a dead spider on a desk. Go back and walk through the third door. There are two pieces of beef jerky in the drawer.

Part 2: a dog's life

Go back and get out of the Storage. You hear a dog coming, hide quickly and don't move before he passed you! Depending on your difficulty setting, you will have to be more or less careful when sneaking through the corridor. You can kill the dog later with the hammer. I suggest getting on a crate and hitting him when he jumps on you. Don't worry, he won't reach you. Find the Workshop on the map and use the key you found on the door and go in. Barricade the door! Use barrels and stones, but the dog will eventually bust through if you get his attention somehow, so it might be best to kill him.

I've finished the Prologue (before you enter the mines) and the first chapter of the walkthrough conversion.

Let me know what you think about it

The HTML file still contains some "dead" links, which are just there in preparation for the next chapter, which is only at draft stage yet, but the rest should work.

I've included the ingame map textures in the archive (jpg files), along with altered versions for easier printing (gif files).

[edit]
I continued converting pikacz's walkthrough, and now everything pikacz wrote so far is included.
I've updated the zip file, and since only the HTML file was changed, I loaded that up too, so that people who already downloaded the old zip file won't have to download everything again.
Now there are no dead links left in the HTML file.

[edit2]Finished everything. The files originally contained in this post have now become obsolete, and I will load the whole thing into my first post in this thread, along with some explanations.